Congruences for sums of binomial coefficients

Abstract

Let q>1 and m>0 be relatively prime integers. We find an explicit period $\nu_m(q)$ such that for any integers n>0 and r we have $[n+\nu_m(q),r]_m(a)=[n,r]_m(a) (mod q)$ whenever a is an integer with $\gcd(1-(-a)^m,q)=1$, or a=-1 (mod q), or a=1 (mod q) and 2|m, where $[n,r]_m(a)=\sum_{k=r(mod m)}\binom{n}{k}a^k$. This is a further extension of a congruence of Glaisher.